Bibs



July l, 969 A. H. G. SCHUL-rz BIBS Filed Aug. l1. 1967 United States Patent O BIBS Arthur Haym Gold Schultz, Baltimore, Md., assiguor to Paper Ware Ltd., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of M land ary Filed Aug. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 659,973

Int. Cl. A41d 13/ 04 U.S. Cl. 2-49 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one-piece disposable bib having a body portion containing a neck opening and tie strips is described. rI"he bib is fabricated from a disposable material by stamping the disposable material with a die which simultaneously sections the bib from a feed supply and provides the neck opening and tie strips. The bib is serviceable and yet permits convenient and inexpensive manufacture.

Field of invention and prior art This invention is directed to disposable bibs. More particularly, the invention is directed to unitary tie-on disposable bibs; -to the method of their manufacture; and to the dies employed in the aforesaid manufacture.

Various types of disposable bibs have been descr1bed in the prior art. The virtues of these bibs, particularly the ability to discard the bib after la single use in contrast to bibs made of cloth or fabrics which require, from the standpoint of economics, repeated use and washlng, are recognized. However, to be completely practical, a disposable bib must be inexpensive to the consumer. Although there are disposable materials such las paper' and plastic products available which are inexpensive, relatively Waterproof, and durable and, accordingly, suitable for use in bib manufacture, the cost of fabricating the bib is increased substantially in the event adhesive patches, snapon fasteners, separate tie strings, or the like, are alixed to the bib so that the bib may be easily donned and removed, and :at the salme time firmly held in place during use. Furthermore, provided the disposable bib is designed to permit its construction from a unitary piece of material, numerous steps in its fabrication are required including cutting an opening for the wearers head and cutting strips for tying the bib around the wearers neck. Again the aforesaid fabricating steps substantially increase the cost of the bib due to high labor costs.

Objects and general description Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a disposable bib of unitary construction having tie strips which can be fabricated with a minimum number of operations.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a die for cutting a neck opening, tie strips, and, optionally, sectioning the bib from 'a feed roll in a single operation.

It is another object of this invention to provide simplified methods of fabricating disposable bibs from a roll of material, such `as paper, or from at sheets of material, such as paper.

These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description with particular emphasis being placed on the drawing.

The bibs made according to the present invention are rectangular, comprising two ends of suitable width and two sides of suitable length. Two tie strips and a neck opening Aare at one end of the aforesaid ends. One of the tie strips is longer than the other and is at the extreme end of the bib whereas the shorter tie strip is positioned 3,452,363 Patented July l, 1969 inwardly from the bib end by the width of the longer tie strip. The bib is conveniently tied around the wearers neck using a conventional knot with the knot being positionedl substantially at the midpoint of the bib.

The bibs are made by stamping a disposable material, such as paper with a die, thereby cutting a neck opening and tie strips into the material in a single operation. According to the invention, the disposable material can be on a roll of suitable width or it can be previously cut into sections of suitable width and length and the sections merely stamped.

The die employed comprises a horseshoe or U-shaped section having one leg of the U of shorter length than the second leg. The shorter leg is bent at right angles and connected to the longer leg to close the top of the U. The longer leg in turn is bent at right an-gles toward the shorter leg and extends beyond the shorter leg to one side of the bibs. The entire bottom of the die is a cutting edge. In an alternative embodiment, a cutting bar extending the full width of the bib is attached to the die in order that the bib can be completely cut from a continuous roll of material in one operation. The bar can completely sever the disposable material or perforate the material to enable convenient separation.

Drawing aizd detailed description The improved bib, its method of manufacture, and the dies employed in the manufacture will be more readily apparent from the accompanying drawing wherein FIGURE l is a front View of the bib in use;

FIGURE 2 is a plan View of the bib;

FIGURE 3 is a partial view of the bib of FIGURE 2 illustrating the tying;

FIGURE 4 illustrates one method of fabrication; `and FIGURE 5 illustrates a lsecond method of fabrication.

More specifically, as seen from the drawing, the bib comprises a body portion 10, a neck opening 11, and tie strips 12 and 13. Strip 13 as seen most clearly from FIG- URE 2 is longer in length and makes up an extreme end of the bib. Strip 12 is shorter and is positioned inwardly from the end by the width of strip 13. When the bib is positioned on the wearer and, ias seen from FIGURES 1 and 3, the longer strip is used to loop the shorter strip in typing, the knot is substantially at the mid-point of the bib. After use, -the bib can merely be torn off by the wearer, or from the wearer, and discarded. No adhesive patch, separate tie strings, snap-on fasteners or the like are necessary.

The bibs are fabricated quickly and inexpensively employing a one-piece die which can be aixed to a pressure plate or to a roller. The die, as seen most clearly in FIGURE 4, comprises a U-shaped member 20 having legs 21 and 22. Leg 22 is longer in length than leg 21. Leg 21 is bent at right angles at 23 and extended by section 24 to completely close the top of the U. Leg 22 in turn is bent at right `angles at 25, i.e., beyond the closing of the U by section 24, and extended by section 26 -to one side of the bib. Accordingly, with one stamping operation, neck opening 11 and tie strips 12 and 13 are completely formed.

Optionally it is possible to position a cutting bar 27 to the aforesaid die to permit the bib to be cut in one operation from a continuous roll of material as shown in FIG- URE 4. The cutting edge of the bar 27 can be constructed 'and arranged in order that the material is completely severed from the roll, or merely perforated to permit convenient separation at a later time as, for example, when the bibs are again rolled onto a roll 'after stamping and sold to the consumer in roll form. More specifically, the disposable material from which the bib is fabricated can be fed from a continuous roll to a stamp or cutting table 3 suitably sectioned so that the bib will be of desired length and stamped with the die, preferably on a suitable pressure plate and after stamping again rolled in the event the bar 27 merely perforates or the individual bibs collected for packaging in the event bar 27 completely severs the bib from the feed roll.

Alternatively, the die as seen in FIGURE 5 can be afxed to a roller 30 which will have a circumference equal to the desired length for the bib. Roller 30 is driven by drive roll 31 which can be a solid resilient material which will absorb the cutting action of the die on roller 30 or it can be mated with roll 30 so that the die on roll 30 will meet complementary grooves or the like therein. In the latter instance, it is necessary that drive roll 30 be critically mated to roll 31. Accordingly, a drive roller made of solid resilient material is preferred. In this embodiment as in the earlier embodiment, the bibs can be rolled onto a continuous roll after being stamped in the event bar 27 merely perforates, or individually collected and packaged in the event bar 27 completely severs the bib from the roll.

In still another embodiment, the disposable material can be previously sectioned in order that the die is merely pressed against the material to provide a bib having neck opening 11 and tie strips 12 and 13. In this embodiment, cutting bar 27 can be eliminated.

Various materials are available which can be employed in fabricating the disposable bibs, including lightweight inexpensive plastics. However, because of economics and ease of fabrication, paper is preferred. Paper products are available comprising a layer of absorbent material a and water repellent material 10b as shown in FIGURE 2. This material is eminently suitable and, thus, preferred.

The die employed herein can be molded from various materials and preferably from the lightweight metal alloys. It is only essential that one edge of the die, i.e., 20a as seen in FIGURE 4, is capable of forming and holding a cutting edge sufficient to cut the disposable material from which the bib is constructed. The presently described bibs can be made in various lengths and widths as will be apparent to one skilled in the art depending upon the ultimate application. If the bibs are packaged primarily for use with babies, a preferred size would be 13 x 9 inches with the tie strips being 5A; inches wide and the longer and shorter strips being 6 and 31/2 inches long respectively.

On the other hand, if the bibs are to be used primarily by adults, eating messy dishes such as spaghetti or lobster in restaurants or eating on planes, trains, and buses, the bibs will be of correspondingly larger size. Furthermore, the bibs for party use or the like can be aixed with various designs, or made of gayly colored materials. It should be appreciated that the invention is not to be constructed as being limited by the preferred embodiments set forth hereinbefore. It is possible to produce still other embodiments without departing from the inventive concept herein described and such embodiments are within the ability of one skilled in the art.

It is claimed:

1. A one-piece disposable bib comprising a body portion having iirst and second ends and rst and second sides; a first tie strip at the tirst end of said body portion and forming a part thereof and extending substantially to the first side of said body portion; a second tie strip located inwardly in the direction of said second end from said rst end of said body portion by the width of said rst tie strip and extending toward tbe second side of said body portion; and a neck opening cut from said body portion at substantially the mid-point of said first end; said first and second tie strips being constructed and arranged in relation to said body portion to overlap at said neck opening and at substantially the mid-point of said end of said body portion and being sutlicientiy long to permit tying around the neck of a wearer.

2. The one-piece disposable bib of claim 1 fabricated from paper.

3. The one-piece disposable bib of claim 1 fabricated from plastic.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,980,436 11/1934 Reagan 2-49 2,440,666 4/ 1948 Miller 2-49 2,424,680 7/ 1947 Doyle 2-49 2,763,867 9/1956 Chagnon 2-49 2,83 8,758 6/ 1958 Townley 249 2,881,447 4/ 1959 Shackclford 2-49 2,949,611 8/ 1960 Wilkaitis 2-49 3,146,464 9/1964 Burnett 2-49 3,299,440 1/ 1967 Grable 2-49 ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner. 

